1. Field of Invention
The present invention pertains to the field of e-services. More particularly, this invention relates to automatic management of e-services.
2. Art Background
An e-service may be defined as a system that provides electronic services to one or more clients through the a network such as the Internet. Examples of e-services include information systems and e-business systems.
A typical e-service employs a set of resources. Examples of resources include software resources such as files, data bases, application programs and services including information services, etc. Other examples of resources include hardware resources such as storage devices, printers, communication devices, computers, etc.
The development and operation of a typical e-service includes a set of relatively complex tasks. These tasks usually include a specification of system requirements for the e-service, the acquisition and configuration of the resources that support the e-service, and service level monitoring. These tasks typically impose a burden on a provider of an e-service which may distract from other important issues pertaining to an e-service.